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Weekend of July 16th, 2010

Dave, Rob & Jason were in China reporting from SINOCES in Qingdao, but Mark & Chris were holding down the fort answering your calls.

ITTV Video Update

Ni Hao (aka "Hello") from China! Into Tomorrow was in Qingdao, China for SINOCES and spoke to several attendees and companies showing new technology. Tune in to our radio broadcast with reports from Rob Almanza and Jason Burns. (Look for show player on right)

Listeners & Guests on the show this week:

For ALL the details ... be sure to listen to the show by downloading the MP3 or clicking the RED & WHITE "Play" button on the media player, both on the right-hand side of this page.

HOUR 1:

Tech News & Commentary

 

John in Tilford, Tennessee listening to the podcast asked: "I've had an iPod Touch for a little while. I upgraded it to the iOS 4. I'm not able to get the multi-tasking to work. I went and Googled all the instructions and can't figure it out. I'm wondering if that's a feature available for the iPod and I figured you'd have the answer."

Multi-tasking indeed is available, but only for the third generation iPod Touch (aka the 3G). If you have a previous model of the iPod Touch, it is not supported.

If you have the iPod Touch 3G, here are the instructions:

1) When an app is open, tap the home button twice, then at the bottom of the screen, there will be a list of apps to select from.

2) When you choose an app from the bottom of the screen, it will open the one you just clicked on and it will multi-task with the app already opened.

3) To close an app, hold down the app icon until you see a dash symbol in a red circle on the top left corner of that icon, and tap it.

 

 

 

 

For more information, click here, or tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.

 

 

The "Into Tomorrow" team discussed the latest apps that they have been playing with recently.

• For iPhone/iPad:
  
  Rob recommends: Fring
  Chris recommends: RedLaser
  
  
• For BlackBerry, Mark recommends: Amazon.com
  
  

Tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast for more details

 

Andy in Durham, North Carolina listening on WPTF 680 AM asked: "Looking for the best VOIP for personal phone use. I'm looking at Magic Jack and Skype. I'm wondering if you had any thoughts on those two."

Skype, on the other hand, wants to be a social networking system, as well as a VoIP service. When you register for Skype, you join their network with a "Skype name." The Skype client program on your PC offers features that are similar to an IM client, like iChat, or Windows Live Messenger. You can type, voice chat, or video chat using a web cam. Skype's audio quality is outstanding when you have a good headset microphone.

For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.

 

HOUR 1
Rob in front of Haier's Wireless 3D LED TV	Gary Shapiro, President & CEO – CEA	Dave recording a segment for our ITTV Video from SINOCES
Huadong Vineyard in Qingdao	Dave with Gary Shapiro's wife, Dr. Susan Malinowski	Panasonic Exhibit
MiWi - Game System by Macro Winners Electronics	Qingdao TV Tower	Paper Speaker - Vibrating Speaker System (inside brochure pictured)

 

Jerry in El Reno, Oklahoma Sirius Ch.108 asked: "Wondering what the best headset and microphone brand is that's between $10 and $50."

There are many different kinds of headsets in the range you gave us. For example, you might want a mono headset (meaning it covers just one ear) for use in a work environment, or you might want a headset that is stereo, or even 5.1 positional sound for listening to music or gaming. You might want a headset that plugs in to a USB port, or you might want one that plugs in to a sound card. We're sort of assuming general voice chat use and a USB connector. Some other models to look at in your price range include the .audio series from Plantronics and the Comfort Chat models from Logitech. There is a range of them all priced between $10 and $50.

 

Bob in Greenwich, Connecticut listening on Sirius Ch.108 has advice about problems with BlackBerry's trackball:

Tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast for more details.

 

HOUR 2:

Tech News & Commentary

 

Lawrence in Oregon listening on Sirius Ch.108 asked: "Trying to find a software program or a simple Windows trick that will allow me to password protect an external hard drive that does not have that capability already."

As far as we know, there aren't any simple Windows tricks that will do this, so you're going to be looking for a third party solution. Which third party program you select depends on how geeky you feel, compared with how much you are willing to pay.

There is an open source program called TrueCrypt. That is free to use and can create password-protected encrypted volumes on your external hard drive, and then mount those volumes as a drive letter. It will get the job done, but it comes with very little documentation. You'll have to look online for help, and there is no single entity you can turn to for support if you have a problem. If you feel like you want to get your geek on, TrueCrypt might be the choice for you.

On the other hand, if you're willing to pay for a program, you could look at something like USB Secure. It will cost you $29.95 after a five-use trial, and by five uses, they mean connecting to your protected drive five times. Don't think it's free so long as you want to protect less than five drives. Anyway, USB Secure installs on your computer and gives you a new option when you plug in a flash drive or click the drive icon for an external hard drive for the first time. It'll pop up with a prompt asking for the access codes to read the drive and if you don't have them, you can't see the drive.

For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.

 

 

Dave in Jefferson City, Missouri listening on KLIK 1240 AM asked: "Wondering of you knew anything about the iPhone 4's faulty proximity sensor and its poor signal."

The signal issues have been all over the news lately. And we've talked about it on recent shows. The phone has a stainless steel band built-in to its side. If you hold the phone a certain way, apparently you can short out the antenna and drop a call. We're hoping Apple will find a way to fix this, but in the meantime, a low-tech fix is to get what they call a "bumper." It's essentially a case that only wraps around the phone, covering that band. That will keep your hands away from it.

The proximity sensor, on the other hand, has not been in the news as much. The proximity sensor is on the inside of the phone and tells the phone when a user holds it up to their ear, shutting off the touchscreen. The problem here is some of these appear to be defective. As a result, the touchscreen doesn't shut off when you hold the phone to your ear, and it may cause you to accidentally end a call by your ear or cheek touching the screen.

Apple has not yet announced any fixes for these, and it has caused Consumer Reports Magazine to say they can't recommend the phone to its readers. A lot of people are calling for an iPhone 4 recall and demanding answers from Apple.

For more information, click here, or tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.

 

Jim in Ellensburg, Washington listening on XM Ch.139 asked: "I have a trackball mouse and it's wireless, but the receiver has to plug into a USB port. The show I was listening to tonight says you can use a Bluetooth adapter on a printer. Wondering if they make an adapter I can use to hook up the wire going into my laptop so I can setup my receiver in a different place and I don't have to have it plugged into my laptop. I travel all the time and my USB ports are getting damaged from having wires plugged into them. I also use a GPS that I'd like to have converted over to Bluetooth also."

No, but you really can't do what you are asking to do. You want to take a device designed to plug in to a computer on a USB port and convert it's connection to Bluetooth.

You can get a Bluetooth adapter that plugs in to a USB port, so you could then switch to a Bluetooth mouse/trackball and a GPS that uses Bluetooth.

Then you could leave that adapter plugged in and connect all your devices wirelessly to your computer. But the devices themselves must be using Bluetooth to communicate. You'll need different devices if you want to shed your USB connections.

 

HOUR 2
Haier unveiled a Wireless 3D LED TV	Susan Schwab, Professor of Public Policy at University of Maryland & former Ambassador of International Trade under the George W. Bush Administration	Canon PowerShot SD4000IS (As reported by Rob Almanza)
Rob, Jason & Dave at SINOCES	"May Wind" Sculpture at May 4th Square in Qingdao, China	Canon XF305 Professional HD Camcorder (As reported by Rob)
SINOCES Show floor	Dave & Jason at May 4th Square in Qingdao in front of mobile police unit	Chicken Dinner Chinese-style

 

John in Pocatello, Idaho listening on Sirius Ch.108 asked: "What I'm looking for is a mobile TV device and phone all wrapped up together. I'd like excellence service for that product."

The BlackBerry, iPhone, or almost any Android phone can do what you're asking. The only question is what you're willing to pay for the service. There is a new app out for the BlackBerry called BitBop that offers a wide variety of channels and pretty decent streaming picture quality, but a subscription to the service to the service costs $9.99 per month. The multi platform FLO TV service, which works on many different phones and some other portable devices, is $14.99 a month, or $149 a year.

The question of what kind of TV is important? Archived shows? Or live broadcasts as they are happening right now? For archived stuff, you can get TV shows for your iPhone or iPad through iTunes. If you have an iPad, you can use Netflix for TV shows and movies alike.

For more information, tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.

 

Jack in Los Alamos, New Mexico listening on XM Ch.139 or via the Internet asked: "I have two very old laptops running XP. They are really slow. I'm wondering if converting them to Linux would help this out. Wondering where I can get a "cookbook" that will explain how to install Linux on these computers. Both are limited to about 1GB in memory."

Of course you can install Linux on your laptops. You can either replace Windows XP with a Linux distro (distribution, or packaged, pre-compiled version of Linux), or you can install Linux in a dual boot environment along with Windows XP, splitting the hard drive space.

The advantage of Linux is its speed and security. It's a faster OS than Windows XP, and it runs on more modest hardware. Your laptops, with their 1GB of RAM, would certainly feel much faster running Linux. But that is only part of the equation.

As for information on installing Linux, we recommend the following websites: The Linux HQ, the main Linux.org site and a site called Linux Tutorial.

 

HOUR 3:

Tech News & Commentary

 

Ryan in Baltimore, Maryland listening on XM Ch.139 asked: "Looking to buy a new flat panel TV. Heard that different stores, like Walmart with the Vizio brand, could sell them at a lower cost because the components are of lesser quality. In fact I've heard that manufacturers would only sell certain models to those stores that offer them at such a discounted price. Wondering what thoughts, comments, or concerns you would have about that."

We don't think that the TVs are really made of lesser-quality components. If that were the case, they would break a lot more often, people wouldn't buy them, and the stores would then stop stocking them.

What happens a lot in this industry, especially with the smaller companies is this: An overseas company manufacturers a product. That product is then sold in different parts of the world to various companies and offered under different brand names. Because the companies buying them don't have to worry about the manufacturing costs, research and development, staff, etc. They are able to sell the product at a lower cost than, say, a Sony or Panasonic.

We're not saying that's the case with Vizio, however. A spokesperson for Vizio said the company was relying on high-volume sales achieved though retail giants, like Costco and Sam's Club, to give it buying leverage with their suppliers, thus keeping prices of flat-panel TVs at previously unseen lows. The company manufactures the product in Thailand, which apparently saves on labor costs.

 

 

Jack in Odessa, Texas listening on XM Ch.139 asked: "What mobile Internet card is the best and what network will I get the fastest speeds from?"

Having Internet access over the air, using the data network of a wireless provider like AT&T, Sprint, or Verizon is typically accomplished in one of two ways. You can get a device that plugs in to the USB port on your laptop, or you can get an external device that connects with your laptop via Wi-Fi.

Both types of devices offer approximately the same performance. The external devices, available on Sprint and Verizon as the "Mi-Fi," offer an advantage in allowing more than one laptop to connect with the Internet at the same time. So, which is best? If you're just talking about one laptop, and you'd never have another one to connect at the same time, or you'd never want to have Wi-Fi for an iPod Touch or iPad (for example), then the USB device will be cheaper.

For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.

 

Philip sent us the following email and asked: "I have a few questions. I am possibly planning a move for a year or two to the Philippines. I would like to know, is it possible to use a satellite system from here, in America, such as Direct or Dish? Will they work there? Or do you need a system purchased in Philippines to be used there?

I also wanted to find out about satellite Internet. I would like to be able to access the Internet, and because the place I am going to is not near a high speed Internet service (the land line telephone system in the Philippines is not as reliable as in the USA), do you have any ideas?

Would it be better to contact these 2 services and ask them?"

The problem is your satellite dish needs to have a clear view of the satellites it's working with. Those satellites are, for obvious reasons, in a geostationary orbit above the earth. That means your satellite dish in the Philippines isn't going to be able to see the DirecTV satellite because the earth is in the way.

As for high speed Internet, Hughes has service in the United States and Europe now, but there is no word yet on a satellite that covers the Philippines. You'll want to stay in touch with both companies to see when they might add service, but remember that this involves launching another satellite into space. That's an expensive proposition, even in the best of economies.

 

Bob in Raleigh, North Carolina listening on WPTF 680 AM asked: "I'd like to know how to get Television and put it through my traditional regular TV set. Trying to get rid of my cable bill. And what technology I need, what services you recommend, that have a wide variety of TV inexpensively. Any suggestions are helpful."

Of course, the cheapest way to get TV is over-the-air. It's free. The drawback is it's only your local channels. If by traditional TV set, you mean an analog, not Digital, non-HD television, you'd need a DTV converter box to make that happen. You cannot get over-the air TV anymore without it. There were coupons from the government that allowed you to get free converter boxes, but unfortunately that program is over and there are no more coupons left. But, basic converter boxes are inexpensive. You can find them starting at about $40 at just about any electronics retailer, like Walmart, Target, and other stores like that.

Another way to watch TV programs is online. There are many sites you can go to, to watch the shows you see on TV. Probably the most popular would be Hulu. Not all the networks make their shows available there, but many of them do. It is a free site, but you won't always find the shows there right away. You may have to wait a day or two, sometimes a little longer.

 

HOUR 3
Lisa Sherman, Marketing & PR – Gwinnett Chamber	Dave with friends	Andy Zhang, General Manager – Edovous Intelligent Technology
“Into Tomorrow” Broadcast Booth	Crestron Wi-Fi Touchpanel (Report from show floor by Jason burns)	Edovous Intelligent Technology
Gary Shapiro speaking at SINOCES	Dave & Wu Tie Jun, Vice-Mayor of Qingdao	“Into Tomorrow” crew with Little (Middle) & James (back-right)

 

 

Nigel in Canada listening on Sirius Ch.108 asked: "We have a 42-inch plasma TV. Generally happy with it, but what drives me nuts is, on dialogue, the sound drags. It's like half a second behind. It reminds me of the old Japanese movies with English dubbed on. Last week, you were talking about the quality of HDMI cables. Is that a factor? I even noticed it on live TV."

The cables, themselves, shouldn't be a factor with the audio lag. It sounds like an audio processing issue. There are tons of forum posts on the web from people experiencing the same issue. Some are saying that a firmware update was required for the TV. Some of those people said that it still didn't fix the problem. Some others said that there was a known bug between certain TVs and certain manufacturer's cable and satellite boxes.

One thing you can try, before calling the manufacturer of your TV, is make sure that, if you have a tuner that you're using for audio, your sources are connected directly to it, instead of passing audio through the TV. This will give the audio a "straight line" to your ears, rather than having to snake through multiple devices. It may or may not solve your problem, but it's worth a shot before you have to start trying the more difficult things, like upgrading the firmware on your TV.

If you do have to upgrade your TV's firmware, they will tell you how to do it. Usually, you can download a file from the net and save it on a flash drive. Most newer TVs have a USB port on them that may be marked "service." This is where you'd put the flash drive to update the software on the TV.

 

Private Tour of Huadong Vineyard in Qingdao with the Vice-Mayor

 

Hong Kong DIsneyland

If you have any questions about any of this week's show info, please email us here.

This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners

Honestech: Fotobox – Easy to use photo slideshow software

OrigAudio: "Rock-It" Portable Vibration Speakers

RadioShack: Weather Clock Radios – with SkyWarn

SmartSwipe: Secure personal credit card readers for shopping online

YoGen: The Universal mobile-device charger

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